Londonâ€”New immigration rules affecting marriage from overseas came into effect on Monday and it was clear that Pakistanis be the community hardest hit by these heavy-handed laws.

Every year, around 40,000 people come to the UK on marriages or spouse visas. The number of British Pakistanis going to Pakistan to get married has been increasing as the community here retains strong ties back home. Most of the spouses â€“ men and women - from Pakistan come to the UK from Mirpur and Kotli districts in Pak occupied Kashmir, followed by spouses from the Punjab province.

Of the average 40,000 who enter into the UK every year, the number of spouses coming from India tops every other nationality, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

Pakistani communities live in the most deprived areas, have the highest number of unemployment in some areas and many of them work in sectors where the salaries are so low that they will not enable them to meet the new Home Office requirements. The key changes in the immigration rules set minimum income threshold at Â£18,600 for those who wish to sponsor the settlement of a spouse or partner in the UK. A higher threshold will be required for the additional sponsorship of migrant children under the age of 18: Â£22,400 for one child and an additional Â£2,400 for each further child sponsored before the migrant parent reaches settlement. The new rules will take into account Â£16,000 and above for the sponsor from the UK but in certain cases savings in excess of Â£90,000 may be required. In a dreadful move, for entry clearance purposes, only the income of the UK partner will be taken into account and it will not matter how much the person in Pakistan is making from his/her businesses or jobs.

The minimum probationary period has been increased from two years to five years before non-EEA (European Economic Area) spouses and partners can apply for settlement. The migrant spouses will be required to complete a five-year probationary period in the UK for settlement and it will not be considered if they have spent a few years together overseas. A British national coming back to the UK and wanting to bring over a non-EEA wife and children will need to have a job or a â€œfirm verifiableâ€ job offer in place before consider applying for a visa for them.

From October this year, all applicants for settlement will have to pass the Life in the UK test in addition to an English language qualification at B1 level or above. An immigration expert said the new rules are onerous and will not help an ailing UK economy. Fariha Butt, a partner at Saracens Solicitors, told that the changes brought in by the Home Secretary are aimed at restricting net migration to Britain from 250,000 to â€œtens of thousandsâ€ but as a result of these new rules hundreds of British citizens will effectively be forced into exile from their own country for having a relationship with a non-European Economic Area national. â€œAs a result British Pakistanis, who number approximately more than a million in the UK, will be one of the hardest hit communities because of the number of people who go â€˜back homeâ€™ to get married. Those who are to be married and those already married may now find it harder to marry a Pakistani national or anyone from outside the EEA or bring any dependents here to live together in the UK as a family unless they satisfy the new rulesâ€. A Home Office spokesperson refused to answer questions on the adverse affects to migrant communities but referred to the statement of Home Secretary Theresa May in which she has stated that â€œfamily life must not be established here at the taxpayerâ€™s expense.â€”Agencies

Rules are such that Pakistanis cannot marry back home in Pakistan unless the spouse also is educated and has the potential to do a job. In absence of this, either you marry with another britain woman/man or stay single all your life.

Having a lot of wealth back home in Pakistan will not ensure that you can live in UK. If you don't have a job then you have to go back to Pakistan.

I think Britons are smarting up and devised these rules especially to hit Pakis.

In UK, it has become a fashion to have more kids (with or without marriage or with divorce) to receive more Unemployment and social security dolls ! Idea was to encourage the Britons to have more kids to maintain young demographic profile but Pakistanies are taking advantage of it.

These rules are long overdue and very welcome,certain people's of pakistani origin have greatly harmed the image and reputation of other peoples that came from the Indian sub continent . Just as the british have started to get tough with problem's that were once taboo to speak of.

Not sure if you get i player in India but the police have a large number of cop's that specialise in dealing in forced marriages ,there idea of shame that girls bring on the good name of the family if they don't marry there cousin's. to us indians we would think of them as brother's. sick bastard's.

yes for everybody but pakis will be more affective as pakis are on social they need to have 18.500 pounds income to call their spouses. more over they need to pass English test and terrorism test in pakistan

In UK, it has become a fashion to have more kids (with or without marriage or with divorce) to receive more Unemployment and social security dolls ! Idea was to encourage the Britons to have more kids to maintain young demographic profile but Pakistanies are taking advantage of it.

Well it is a fact !

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It's not alone in UK but in whole western world where social benefits are raped by people from Muslim country. though i dont generalize Muslim as such.

Here in Holland there r lot of Moroccans immigrant.they do the same thing wat pakis does in UK.

They have more school dropouts, more police cases and produce kids as they produce payaz or tamatar. they rape social benefits of govt.they even call Holland as "Casino Holland":shocked::shocked:

but now dutch govt has made strict rules on benefits. no matter how many kids u produce, u will get less benefits with more kids and no more big social houses when u have more kids.

The UK and Europe in general clearly needs reform in immigration policies and social policies in dealing with immigrants to ensure better integration. My knowledge on UK's immigration is very limited and so I can't really comment upon anything.